Villanova's JayVaughn Pinkston (22) shoots over Connecticut's Amida Brimah (35) during the first half of a third-round game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Buffalo, N.Y., Saturday, March 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Bill Wippert)

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- There are no more adjectives to describe him, so it's probably best just to stick with this: Shabazz Napier.

He may well become his own adjective.

Leading a UConn team that seems to be on a mission, Napier recovered from foul trouble and a shin bruise to push the Huskies into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the 17th time. The senior guard scored 21 of his game-high 25 points in the second half Saturday night, pacing No. 7 seed UConn to a 77-65 victory over No. 2 seed Villanova at the First Niagara Center.

The legend of arguably the most complete player in UConn history continues to grow. The story will continue Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York when the Huskies (28-8) take on either Iowa State or North Carolina.

“He goes out there and plays,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. “He does whatever we need to win. If that's scoring a scoop shot, if that's being my unpaid coach for 12 minutes, that's what he does.

“He was just unbelievable that second half.”

He had to be. He wasn't around long enough in the first half to have much of an impact, which is exactly where the legend gets some help.

Napier picked up two fouls in the first eight minutes of the first half and went to the bench with 12:08 left. At that point, Villanova (29-5) had a 16-9 lead that quickly grew to 19-9. Ollie might have had to risk putting Napier back in if things started to get out of hand.

The complete opposite happened. Freshman Terrence Samuel, who looked scared in his limited time against St. Joseph's on Thursday night, took over for Napier and was a rock. He, Ryan Boatright, Niels Giffey and Lasan Kromah not only steadied things but proceeded to go on a 16-1 run to take the lead.

UConn took a 25-24 lead into the break. Napier was afforded the opportunity to watch, a chance to see in action what he's been saying all along: The Huskies are more than just him.

“That just shows the maturity of this team and how much they continuously are getting better,” Napier said. “I get recognized for a lot of things, but everybody knows there's no 'I' in team, and they proved it. Niels stepped up. Terrence got in the game and stepped up. I could go down the list. Everybody stepped up, and that's what they do.”

Giffey finished with a career-best 11 rebounds. Samuel posted a career-high 11 points. Kromah contributed 12 points, his first double-figure game in the last 13 outings. The oft-overlooked Boatright had 11 points and seven rebounds, taking over Napier's leadership role on the court during the first half.

All of which set the stage for Napier, who scored at better than a point-per-minute pace in the second half. With UConn leading 45-40 with about 10 minutes to play, Napier hit consecutive 3-pointers from almost another zip code. They capped a 16-4 burst and gave the Huskies a 51-40 lead that was only marginally threatened.

Napier went out for 37 seconds at a pivotal time, about four minutes left and UConn with a 56-51 lead, after taking a knee to his shin from Darrun Hilliard. It looked worse than it turned out to be, but just added something to the story.

“Napier was awesome. There was a period where he hit those threes and it just created separation,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “I think that was probably the story of the game, their defense and that period where Napier hit those threes.”

The defense should not go overlooked. Villanova lives off the 3-pointer and, outside of the first eight minutes, it had all sorts of trouble getting off good shots from long range. The Wildcats hit just 11 of 31 from beyond the arc, a mere 7 of 20 in the second half.

The Huskies needed some time to figure out what Villanova wanted to do. Once they did, the Huskies controlled the remainder of the game. After the early 10-point deficit, UConn outscored Villanova 68-46.

“They were hitting some big shots, knocking down threes early,” Boatright said. “The (defensive) rotations were just a little too slow in the beginning of the game. Once we got into the flow and figured out where they wanted to get their shots, we started locking it up.”

It was an impressive effort up and down the eight-man rotation. Napier played hero again, but he has a stable full of sidekicks to make it possible. Because of it, the Huskies are headed to their second home in midtown Manhattan after being banned from the postseason last year.

“Going through what we went through last year, it was hurtful and painful to watch,” Boatright said. “We didn't have anything to do with the sanctions, but it feels good, man, to move on.”

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